brioux.tv: the podcast

Lauren Holly is an American-Canadian actress who lives in Toronto but works in Vancouver. Hers is every TV actresses resume rolled into one.
Vancouver is where she shoots Family Law, which returns for a second season Monday, May 22 on Global. The CW just announced that they've acquired the cheeky law drama for their summer season.
When she's not stirring things up as family matriarch Joanne Kowalski opposite Jewel Staite and Victor Garber on Family Law, she can be found in Ontario's cottage country. That's where she shoots The Lake, the Prime Video drama returning for a second season June 9.
Holly's credits stretch back to her breakout role opposite Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker on Picket Fences (1992-96). Several seasons on Chicago Hope and NCIS followed as did features such as "Dumb and Dumber" and "What Women Want."
Raised in upstate New York, Holly married not one but two Canadians, moved to Canada, became a Canadian citizen and has three Canadian sons. Does this not qualify her for the Order of Canada? Or at least a discount at Tim Horton's?
Hear her on the importance of acting on happy sets on this episode of brioux.tv: the podcast.

Hugh Wilson talked his way into a job at MTM Enterprises at just the right time. When he arrived in the early '70s, they were busy making sitcom history with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show. Wilson, who had no prior TV experience, could often be found up in the rafters, taking a crash course in Funny 101.
The result was his first series as a creator and executive producer, WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-82).
In this "From the Vault" conversation from 2014, Wilson -- who passed away in 2018 at 74 -- talks about what it was like to strike gold with just the right cast at just the right time -- even if his rock 'n' roll radio station sitcom was never a big hit in the States.
Among the surprising things he reveals:
"When the show first went on, it was struggling in the ratings in the U.S. But the ratings in Canada were great right from the beginning," says Wilson, who used the Canadian response to successfully argue that the series needed time to find its audience. "I've never understood that but I've always been super grateful for it."

Podcasts were invented for guests such as Malcolm McDowell. He is a smart, funny, generous man and as terrific as ever as Pop on CBC's Son of a Critch.

This conversation took place last summer in St. John’s, Nfld., in McDowell’s trailer which was parked outside the Bella Vista banquet hall. It had been an exciting 24 hours with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau -- who was down the street trying in vain to save his job at the annual Regatta -- stopping by to say hello to the cast and crew.

Back in August, few suspected how Trudeau’s fortunes might change in six months. Wait till you hear McDowell’s take on Trudeau as well as the PM's mother Margaret whom McDowell first met 50 years earlier in London.

We touch on some of the actor's past performances in films such as “Clockwork Orange," “Caligula” and too many others to mention. We start off talking about a few of his past podcast hosts, one he loved and another not so much.

McDowell made sure I was offered a cup of English breakfast tea (milk; no sugar) and we were off to the races. Pour yourself one now and listen in.

I like my podcast guests to feel comfortable. That's not always possible over a zoom call, but that didn't stop Jennifer Finnigan, currently back for a second season on CBC's comedy-drama Moonshine. For our interview, the Montreal native chose to stay in bed.
That is a level of intimacy and/or laziness usually reserved for close friends or relatives so I'm flattered. Really.
Besides, Finnigan has been spending long days in production on an already ordered third season of the series, shot on the southern shore of Nova Scotia.
Created by Sheri Elwood (Call Me Fitz), Moonshine is about a ramshackle summer resort run by one whacked out family. Finnigan plays Lidia, the prodigal sister who returns from America. When her hippie parents (Peter MacNeill and Corrine Koslo) retire, Lidia gets drawn into a battle with her freaked out siblings for control of the joint.
Lidia's life takes a turn when she finds out her lying douche of a hubby was cheating on her. Finnigan's real-life husband Jonathan Silverman stepped right into the part.
The couple and their five-year-old daughter moved to Nova Scotia to work on the series. They've been having a blast working on Moonshine with Anastasia Phillips, Emma Hunter, Tom Stevens, Alexander Nunez and others. This season, Allan Hawco plays Lidia's new biker boy.
We also talk about Finnigan's past roles, including The Bold and the Beautiful (where she won three daytime Emmys), Crossing Jordan, Tyrant and Salvation. May all future interviews be this relaxed.

Hugh Dillon is a man of many talents, including acting, writing and rocking -- the latter done with his band, Headstones.
The acting writing and producing skills were put to the test this third season on the Paramount+ drama Mayor of Kingstown. Dillon and his series co-creator Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone; Tulsa King) made it their mission to put their lead, Jeremy Renner, firmly back on his feet again after the actor suffered a horrible accident in January of 2023.
Renner's Mayor "Mike" McLusky spends most episodes racing from crisis to crisis as he tries to settle gang wars that are constantly errupting in his prison town. Viewers will see McLusky pick up right where he left off at the end of Season 2, with Renner showing no signs of the damage he suffered as a result of being crushed under a seven ton snow plow.
On this episode, Dillon also references his former series, Flashpoint, his years growing up in his own prison town, Kingston, Ont., and his new album with the Headstones.